Survivor: Game Changers episode 4 review: One twist to fail them all

Survivor: Game Changers episode 4 kicked off with Tai Trang showing everyone on the new Mana tribe that he could be loyal to them. Caleb went home, and that opened the door for Hali Ford … briefly. She was excited to make inroads with Debbie, or so she thought. Debbie made a prophecy before the reward challenge that they were going to all stick together against Hali, and our immediate thought was yeah, that always works as according to plan.

Reward Challenge – This was a rare occasion of two people going out and taking part in a challenge on their own! This was surprisingly effective and exciting, mostly in that Nuku (led by Malcolm and JT) was incredibly balanced and was able to snatch victory. Meanwhile, Troyzan on Tavua completely botched the lead Ozzy gave him, and Culpepper was able to destroy the second part of the challenge after Tai got him off to a slow start. Culpepper got his team in second, while Troyzan found himself even more the odd man out after blowing it.

Mid-game strategy – Over on Tavua, we got one of our first extended looks at Ozzy this season as he made it clear why he was happy that his team lost: It aids his role as the provider of the tribe! Hey, if this helps him stay until the merge, more power to him.

Beyond that, we had Sandra calling herself the Queen once more on Nuku while Malcolm and JT were secretly plotting to get rid of her. Granted, it was JT more than anyone who was doing the plotting — it’s a little strange to see JT the former winner acting like he’s not a threat in comparison to a two-time winner, but he’s right that Sandra gets more dangerous the longer you keep her around.

Immunity Challenge – We got here pretty early in the episode, and this made sense given that we thought there were going to be two Tribal Councils in the episode. Also, we saw the return of the blindfold challenge. By the way, blindfold challenges suck. They’re not fun television, and we don’t enjoy challenges where we’re constantly worried about someone getting a concussion.

This was intense. For the majority of the episode, we felt pretty confident that Nuku was Survivor on god mode and we were never going to see them lose. Unfortunately, it was Varner who struggled in the table maze at the very end. This meant that Nuku and Mana were going to Tribal Council … but they were only voting out one person. Suffice it to say, this changes everything. Also, it’s a terrible twist. It throws social game out the window since it takes so much strategy and social game away from you.

Preparing for the Tribal – We were willing to give the twist the benefit of the doubt long enough to see how it played out. Where things were interesting was that in theory, the Nuku tribe could pick off someone from Mana and then wipe their hands of everything. JT and Malcolm, however, made it very clear that they wanted to get rid of Sandra, and they thought Mana would be convinced to make that move. Mana was a little bit all over the place, and with a debate over targeting Malcolm in the cards, Tai wanted to get an immunity idol just to be safe.

Now, things get interesting – We arrived at Tribal, where Brad continued to use some odd analogies (though not as odd as calling Hali “Blue Eyes” like she was some Friday Night Lights character) and there was all sorts of chest-puffing and posturing.

We will say this — this may have been the best execution of this twist possible. It was crazy and we’re not sure all of the grouping and whispering should’ve been allowed, but it was very entertaining. In theory, we do still hate it because Nuku could’ve just easily targeted the other tribe. This only works because it’s returning players. Anyway, the target kept switching back and forth when it comes to either Sierra or Brad or the target on the Mana tribe. Meanwhile, there was still a movement to get out Sandra from the game.

Who was sent out? Malcolm. Crazy, and our heart REALLY goes out to Malcolm, a great player who didn’t deserve that. But, who deserves anything in this game? Sierra played the idol found by Tai, and that was the thing that really turned the tide more than anything.

Overall – Like we said, we hate the twist as far as competitive advantages go. Still, we’re a viewer, and we cannot deny that from the vantage point of great television, this brought that and then some. Amazing television, but our disdain for our move and Malcolm’s exit clouds our judgment somewhat. It’s hard to get behind the TV aspect when the presentation of it just isn’t that fair. Grade: B.

What’s coming on Survivor: Game Changers episode 5?

Then be sure to head over here! We’ll be back tomorrow with a new exit interview. (Photo: CBS.)

What was your take on tonight’s Survivor: Game Changers episode, and all of the strategy within? Be sure to share in the comments! (Photo: CBS.)